With Henrik Zetterberg out of the Detroit Red Wings' lineup the past 13 games, opponents have been able to focus more on Pavel Datsyuk. That focus, however, has shown that Datsyuk is a dominant player who can carry the Red Wings with or without the support of Zetterberg.

Centering the Red Wings' top line and drawing the opposition's top defense pairing every game, Datsyuk has led his team over the past 13 games with six goals and 17 points. In three of the past four games, Datsyuk has been the only goal-scorer for the Red Wings.

"I thought he responded real well when Hank (Zetterberg) went down," said Detroit captain Nicklas Lidstrom. "They played real well together and Hank was on a roll. The two of them were fun to watch and tough to stop for the opponents. But once Hank went down, I thought that Pavel just continued to play like he did with Hank. I think that's a big positive for him because he knows he can carry that line like he did the last few games here."

The playoffs are a lightning rod for Datsyuk's detractors. In the past three postseasons, Datsyuk has tallied no goals and nine assists in 21 games.

At the same time, however, no Red Wing has been an offensive standout over the past three playoffs. Brendan Shanahan had just one more point than Datsyuk over those three years. Nicklas Lidstrom had the same number of points. Steve Yzerman had just one more point than Datsyuk.

In fact, Yzerman was one of Datsyuk's biggest supporters after the post-season a year ago, saying that people didn't realize how injured badly injured that the Russian was. Datsyuk had to have fluid drained from his thigh during the playoffs.

"He would have succeeded last year if he would have been healthy," said Detroit coach Mike Babcock. "It's not like he didn't play good once he got going. He played really well. Our team didn't buy him enough time to get rolling. Pav's going to be fine. He's competitive. He knows how to handle the physical going."

Datsyuk fills several roles for the Red Wings. He was playing on the wing alongside Zetterberg, but has moved to the middle since his linemate's injury. Datsyuk is second on the team in faceoffs at 56.3 percent, trailing only Kris Draper (57.5 percent) and ahead of Zetterberg (52.5 percent).

Datsyuk is one of the team's top penalty killing forwards with opponents averaging a team-low 3.96 goals per 60 minutes with him on the ice. (The team average is 5.78 power-play goals allowed per 60 minutes.)

At even strength, the Red Wings have outscored opponents 67-33 with Datsyuk on the ice. That's the biggest goal differential on the team per minute played -- bigger than Zetterberg's or Lidstrom's.

"He's just a flat-out good player," said Babcock. "Whether you're penalty killing or in the last minute (of the game), he's a good player, a person who generates offense. You just can't say enough about him. He's eating up the minutes and he's playing real well. He's always been good, but I think maybe even more this year because we've given him that chance to be good. He and Z (Zetterberg) are our best forwards and they drive the bus on this team. They've got to be the best. They work the hardest. If you're going to lead, you've got to work the hardest and be the most detail oriented. Pav's doing it for us."

Like we were discussing the other day, Datsyuk has played tremendous through all the injuries line swapping, and all the added pressure he has on him since Hank has been hurt. I know as well as you that Datsyuk could have this big a impact nomatter who he was playing with. He has been very good adjusting to new line mates, He did very well adjusting to playing Wing when they had moved. He is doing extremely well in the defensive zone when a lot of people were saying he wasn't a defensive minded player at all. Despite others posting his take away percentages.

Pavel has been on fire and hopefully continues to play his game and everything will be fine.

Datsyuk doesen't get the credit he deserves, hopefully he knows their are a lot of fans who appreciate what he does for the team and see how hard he works every game.

www.datsyuk13.com ^thanks Offsides^[press] "When you have the puck, how many people do you see?"Without smiling, Datsyuk answered, "18,000"

nice post Like we were discussing the other day, Datsyuk has played tremendous through all the injuries line swapping, and all the added pressure he has on him since Hank has been hurt. I know as well as you that Datsyuk could have this big a impact nomatter who he was playing with. He has been very good adjusting to new line mates, He did very well adjusting to playing Wing when they had moved. He is doing extremely well in the defensive zone when a lot of people were saying he wasn't a defensive minded player at all. Despite others posting his take away percentages.

Pavel has been on fire and hopefully continues to play his game and everything will be fine.

Datsyuk doesen't get the credit he deserves, hopefully he knows their are a lot of fans who appreciate what he does for the team and see how hard he works every game.

Don't worry he'll get the credit he deserves next year in terms of millions of dollars (like 6.5 or 7 of them), i just hope the name on the bottom of the cheque spells Mike Ilitch and not Ted Leonsis

This is exactly what me and many of his supporters have been saying all along. But nothing proves our point more than him just letting his play do the talking. It's nice to see him finally getting some positive recognition without all the playoff bashing bologna. Yet that seems to also be addressed here, by none other than Stevie Y., and Babcock. They say the same things I've said in other threads on here, yet I'm labled a "Datsyuk apologist". Well if I am, looks like I'm in some pretty good company.

Don't worry he'll get the credit he deserves next year in terms of millions of dollars (like 6.5 or 7 of them), i just hope the name on the bottom of the cheque spells Mike Ilitch and not Ted Leonsis

If Wings don't sign him, I'll go to Detroit my self and have a few choice words with Ilitch. Plus, who says he wants credit in the form of money and not for the whole Detroit community to accept him? I know there are a few people who are Detroit players that don't like him because how he has performed in the playoffs.

But great post by the way. He really has taken up the slack now since Zetter has been out.

I hope Holland & Co. realize what a step back they will be taking if Datsyuk is let go through FA in the off-season. The most I would pay him is $5.5M and make it long-term. Yes, he is a very important part of this team, but you have to remember that whatever he gets for his next contract is going to be the stipulation of what Zetterberg will recieve with his.

I really like seeing Datsyuk playing with Bertuzzi. I just know that once Bertuzzi gets one lucky bounce he is going to start getting hot. I remember the Versus guys comparing Datsyuk to the new version of Morrison for Bertuzzi (which pissed me off a bit ) Datsyuk is 10 times the player Morrison is and I hope that Bertuzzi and Pav creat some great chemistry going into the post season. our success is going to be based upon how well Pavel steps up this year. Zetterberg alone cannot win a series, as we saw last year.